It was the arrival of Will Burton in charge of his two captors that broke in upon the interview between George and the Wyandot, who was asking him a number of questions shaped in very good English.
The meeting of the brothers, as you may well suppose, was a painful surprise to both of them.
"How came you to be here?" asked the elder, taking a seat beside the other on the log.
"One of them stole up behind me when I wasn't thinking," replied George, swallowing a lump in his throat. "I didn't believe any of them would catch you."
"Nor I either," replied Will, with a shake of his head, and turning pale; "but they are mighty1 cunning and smart. Did you hear me when I signalled?"
George shook his head. It should be said that during the few minutes the brothers were allowed to talk with each other the Indians themselves were conversing2. The arrival of the captives evidently started several theories and questions, which required some time to discuss.
The Wyandots kept an eye on the boys sitting on the fallen tree, but they made no objection to their talking together. The latter noticed that all were on their feet, speaking earnestly, and gesticulating with much energy. Among them were a couple who had bows and arrows instead of guns, though the majority were furnished with the more deadly rifle.
"I wonder if they'll catch Jack3 too?" said the younger, after his brother had told him how his own signal had betrayed him.
"I shouldn't wonder. I suppose there was so much going on here that you didn't hear me when I whistled, but it must have reached Jack and started him on the move, and likely enough he has made the same blunder that we have. You know he went on the other side from me, and must have come just as close to camp."
"What do you suppose they will do with us, Will?"
The elder shook his head.
"I can't tell, any more than you can; we can only hope that they will spare our lives."
"If they do let us go they won't give us back our guns."
"Of course not; they will be a big loss to us, but not so much as our lives."
"We can't be sure that we won't lose them too," was the truthful4 remark of George. "I was thinking," he added, "that if Jack keeps out of their hands he will see what has happened to us. He'll hurry back home, and they may be able to get enough men together to make the Indians give us up."
Will shook his head, and compressed his lips.
"There is no hope there; you know how fast the Indians travel through the woods. They will get away before any of our friends can start."
"But their villages are not so far off that they cannot be found. You remember how Daniel Boone chased the Indians that stole his daughter, and brought her back?"
"Yes; he told father about it when he was at our house. But that was different. If the Wyandots--as I suppose these people are--should find there was any chance of losing us, they would kill us as quick as lightning. The only hope," added Will, with a sigh, "is in Hua-awa-oma."
"How do you make that out?"
"I don't make it out, and more than likely there's nothing in it; but you know Jack told us that he is a chief, and that he gave his gun back to him."
"That was because he beat his boy wrestling."
"Well, it may be that on Jack's account he won't be too severe with us; but," added Will the next instant, "there can't be much chance after all. I wonder whether Hua-awa-oma is among these fellows? I thought that the one who came in with me was he, because he had no rifle until he took mine away from me."
"Maybe he is the chief."
"No; I asked him, and found he couldn't speak English. That fellow who brought you in is the biggest Indian I ever saw, but he can't be the chief."
"No; I know he is not."
While talking, the boys were studying the figures and faces of the red men around them, for they were interesting indeed.
"There's one thing that makes it sure that Hua-awa-oma is absent," said the elder, settling back on the log; "his boy who wrestled5 with Jack is not here. He is taking him on his first war trail, and he would be sure to keep him near him until they got back."
"Don't you think it strange, Will, that when most of these people have rifles the sachem who leads them should carry nothing better than bows and arrows?"
"That is natural enough: he has probably taken his boy out for a little training, and his father carries his own bow the better to teach him. When the chief comes back to his warriors6 you may be sure that he will have the best gun in the party."
"It may be that he belongs to another party."
"I have thought of that, but I guess there is only the one company that is on this raid. However, we can talk all day and it won't help us any. Do you know whether any of them can speak English?"
"There is one that speaks it better than any Indian I ever saw: where is he?" asked George, straightening up, and looking around for the warrior7 who was questioning and threatening him at the moment the elder brother was brought into camp.
"I declare!" exclaimed the boy the next moment, when he discovered that the very Wyandot for whom he was searching was standing8 directly behind the log on which they were sitting. His arms were folded and he was looking at his friends who were talking so earnestly together, but beyond all question he had heard and understood every word spoken by the boys.
"Well," said the elder, dropping his voice, "we have told all there is to tell, and we may as well keep on talking."
"And that doesn't leave us much to talk about," replied George, who spoke9 in a louder voice than his brother.
At this juncture10 the vigorous conversation among the Wyandots stopped; and several of them took seats on the log near the boys.
The brothers, as you may well suppose, felt anything but comfortable when they saw they were the objects of the attention that had been turned away for a few minutes.
The warrior who has been referred to as speaking such good English now addressed himself to Will.
"Where be Jack?"
This question was proof, if any was needed, that he understood what had passed between the brothers during the conversation which I have given.
"Which way he go?"
Will hesitated before answering. He could not do anything that looked like a betrayal of his friend. If he answered the question truthfully it might give the very information that would result in the capture of the only one of the three that had been able to keep out of the hands of the Indians.
It would have been easy enough to tell an untruth, but the soul of the boy revolted against it. Besides, the falsehood was almost certain to be discovered sooner or later, in which event the penalty would be visited upon him.
"Don't you know," whispered George, "that you spoke of the route Jack took? The Indian knows it himself."
Of course; why was not Will as quick as his brother to see the trap his questioner was setting?
Will disguised very well the cause of his hesitation12. He scratched his head and looked around in the wood, as if uncertain of the point of the compass. Then his face lightened, as if it all had come back to him.
"Yonder is the ridge where we three stood a half-hour ago," he said, pointing in the proper direction; "I went that way; my brother here came straight down to the camp; while Jack turned off so as to go among the trees yonder."
The answer was truthful, as the Indian well knew. He had been misled, too, by the manner of Will, who therefore gained whatever it was worth in the eyes of the Wyandots by speaking with a "single tongue."
"We catch Jack," continued his questioner; "we bring him here; he soon be here; we take him home to Wyandot town; we make 'em run gauntlet; then we kill all you."
I suppose you know what is meant by running the gauntlet. It is a common torture to which the American Indians subject their prisoners. Two rows of savages13 arm themselves with clubs, and compel the poor captive to run a long distance between them. As he passes within reach, each redskin belabours him without mercy, so that, as the victim has to run a long way, he is almost certain to be knocked to the earth, where more than likely he is beaten to death.
If he succeeds in running the gauntlet he is sometimes spared (as was Simon Kenton), but is often kept for other forms of torture.
What further the Wyandot might have said to the boys can only be guessed, for, as before, he was checked by another arrival that was the strangest and most important of all--one that astonished even the stolid14 Wyandots themselves.
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1
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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2
conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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3
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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4
truthful
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| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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5
wrestled
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| v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤 | |
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6
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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7
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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8
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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9
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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10
juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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11
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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12
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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13
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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